Recollection By Jnaneshwar:

Situated in the Mahabharat Range in Tanahu district and midway on the Prithvi Highway between the Kathmandu and Pokhara lies Bandipur – a picturesque Newari town that still retains its centuriesold appeal. Bandipur Bazaar is situated on a ridge above the highway town of Dumre, and presents sightseers with a heady mix of history, architecture, incredible views, awesome caves and unspoiled landscapes.

On Saturday, 10th of June, 10 enthusiastic hikers from D2 set out on a hike to Bandipur. It was around 8.00 in the morning that we left from office premises for our adventurous hikein search of a thrilling experience. As it was my first hike from D2, I was very excited about the hike.

After having breakfast on the highway, driving 143 km to the west of Kathmandu through Mugling to Dumre on Prithivi Highway and after about half an hour from Piple, 1 km west of Dumre, we reached Bandipur, (Nepalko pahilo khulaa disa mukta chhetra) about 1.30 pm. We booked a room in local “Hills and Heaven” hotel and quickly, hurried to hike without having lunch so that we could walk more easily. Our first destination was Tundikhel, a field to the northern end of Bandipur’s main bazzar, which is an excellent vantage point for viewing the Marsyangdi Valley (below 500m) and the magnificent Himalayan Range (above 800m) in a single frame. It includes the spectacular peaks of Dhaulagiri, Machhapuchhre, Langtang, Manaslu and Ganesh Himal, among others. But unfurtonately for us, due to rapidly changing weather we were unable to see all those beautiful sights from there (Badaluko ghumtole bandipur bazaar chhekidaa…). Being the 2nd last day of world cup, there also was interesting game between local guys at Tundikhel. (World cup ko mahol bata Bandipur matra achhuto rahane kurai vayena. But,chhin chhin mai aaune ra haraune kuhiro le garda goal hannalai kheladile post nai dekhenan)

Our next destination after Tundikhel was Khadga Devi temple, which contains a Khadga, a sacred sword- a gift from Lord Shiva to Mukunda Sen, the king of Palpa. Wrapped in layers of cloth, legend has it that anyone looking at the bare sword invites instant death. The Khadga is worshipped as a symbol of the female power. This temple is opened to devotees only once a year on the day of Phulpati, the seventh day of the Hindu festival of Dashain. While going from Tundikhel to Khadga Devi how could I forget the walking in stone paved slippery road near Martyr Memorial park? (Arkalai hidna daraune vanera aafu hiro vako ta…)

After Khadga Devi, we had a walk to Tindhara, a picnic spot lying to the east of main bazaar. The name Tindhara derives from the original three water spouts which is still the main source of water for villagers (Actually there are five water spouts, four giving water). The shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva lies nearby with rest houses and shady spots scattered around making this a favorite place for picnickers.

Then, we tried to search our next destination in our MAP, and saw ORCHID Trail, Ramkot and Siddha Cave. As Ramkot and Siddha Cave were much far and not possible to reach that day, we decided to go there the day after and walked to Orchid Trail. The interesting thing is that as we could not grasp the map properly and hence, failed to reach there even after trying twice to reach there. And due to misleading path and time we have to return back to hotel at 7pm.

We enjoyed the World Cup football 3rd place match at Bandipur Lodge. Watching the match in group staying in hotel was really a memorable part of our journey. Though we had slept late night watching match and decided to go early in the morning for sunrise view and after that to Siddha Cave, our plan to go to see sunrise turned out to be only a plan, as the continuous incessant rain from evening played the role of a villain.

After having breakfast we left the Bandipur bazaar and decided to go to Cave from Bimalnagar as suggested by the hotel owner (Suman Shrestha). And still there was hope to that we could make a shortcut through our D2 Van, but that even didn’t work out. We waited if there would be any improvement in weather. But raining showed no sign to stop. Thus, our dream to visit biggest cave in Himalaya remained constrained only in our dream and we decided to return back to Kathmandu.

On our way back to Kathmandu, we had to wait for about 3 hours in traffic jam as the road between Kurintar and Malekhu was obstructed by landslide caused by heavy rain throughout the previous night. Then, we decided to use the time to wait in jam in the hiking of 2nd day. We walked in the sides of vehicles in queue (about 2 kms long) searching how far was the end of the jam. The most interesting part there was – (pahiro herna jaada aafai hilo ma fasepachhi jutta sabai bigarera malekhu samma khali khutta aayera teha chappal kineko hehe ….) it was fun. Finally, we reached Kathmandu @ around 5 PM and thus, our journey was over.

There are many memorable parts of hiking. The most noteworthy here may be:

• The weather due to which we could not enjoy the sights of mountain and explore the Siddha Cave. Actually it was the off season for hike to Bandipur, we realized.
  (farkine bela ni pahiro le baato jam garera tin ghanta samma hallinu pareko ni yehi weather kai karan ta ho ni)
• Nikesh lai khaire jasto thanera bachchaaharu namaste gardai pachhi lageko
• Ani hami le VIP Nepali ko rup maa Bandipur chhetra prabesh ko pass payeko.
  (That;s why we wanted to give the title of this hike as “Bandipur Hike of VIP Nepali”)

• 01 Getting_Ready
• 02 Mistic_River
• 03 Abstract
• 04 Yatra
• 05 Bandipur_map
• 06 Bandipur@Glance
• 07 Bandipur_bazaar
• 08 Amrit_Jal
• 09 d2_sena
• 10 For_ur_eyes_only
• 11 Give_me_Freedom
• 12 Hikers
• 13 Badal_ko_ghumto_le_bandipur bazzar_choppidinda_maile_sab_lai birsechu_timilai_Samjhinda
• 14 Bhavisya ko karnadhar
• 15 Bindyabasini
• 16 Butterfly_Butterfly_which_color_do_you_like
• 17 bandipur_bazaar_from_back
• 18 catching_distant_sight
• 19 CORN
• 20 Dostana in the making
• 21 Fulbari
• 22 3rdplace_warm_up_match@Tundhikhel
• 23 Footballers or Hikers
• 24 ghas katne khurkera……
• 25 Intil_inside
• 26 guys_having_fun
• 27 Hamra_buda_ba
• 28 hay_field
• 29 garden
• 30 KNOCK_KNOCK
• 31 jaun_bhai_jaun
• 32 K Garne K Garne…..!!!!!!
• 33 getting directions from a local
• 34 Misty
• 35 our scooters
• 36 One_Missing
• 37 Nikesh trying his photography skills
• 38 Ram dai’s ramdev
• 39 rookie hikers
• 40 Ram_Dai_Lost_In_Thoughts
• 41 sliding_stone_,take_care!!!!!!
• 42 ulllu eyes
• 43 SPOT_OUR NATIONAL_FLAG
• 44 PINKY
• 45 United_we_stand
• 46 should_be_national_slogan
• 47 Lets_Go_Green
• 48 phool aur kaate
• 49 let’s zoom how big it is
• 50 Remote Feeding
• 51 hunt for Orchid Trail
• 52 wats_this
• 53 lets_have_some_fun
• 54 tinORpaanch_dhara
• 55 WorldCup_Fever
• 56 save me from Zombies
• 57 JUST_FOR_YOU
• 58 lets_move_guys
• 59 Lonely_M_Still_Lonely
• 60 mobile_not_working_so_sending_sms
• 61 local raincoat
• 62 yo_bato_kanha_jaaney_ho
• 63 nature’s beauty
• 64 maccha_marana_hai_daju
• 65 Men@work
• 66 parttime_cameraman
• 67 Professional_camerman@work
• 68 National Highway of Nepal
• 69 take my snap
• 70 ready for unexpected hiking
• 71 maleku’s_fav
• 72 90 to go
• 73 Is it Asadh 15
• 74 Ready_for_the_shot
• 75 Telescope_view
• 76 we_are_the_ultimate_hikers
• 77 Panoramic_view